Lieutenant General Patrick Sanders

Commander Field Army

British Army

Lieutenant General Patrick Sanders was commissioned into The Royal Green Jackets in 1986 with whom he served in Germany, Northern Ireland, Canada and Norway. He has commanded on operations in Crossmaglen, West Belfast, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
On the staff, he served as Chief of Staff of 1st Mechanised Brigade, deploying to Oman and Kosovo. On promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 2003, he served in Baghdad as a strategic planner and Pol-Mil adviser to the US Commander of CJTF-7. In 2004 he was posted to the Staff College as a member of the Directing Staff. He commanded 2RGJ (becoming 4 RIFLES) from 2005-2008, including a tour of Basra in 2007.
He attended the Higher Command and Staff Course before establishing the post of Colonel Army Strategy in May 2008 in the MOD. He commanded 20th Armoured Brigade 2009-2012 in Germany and in Afghanistan as Task Force Helmand 2011-2012. After a brief period in Washington as the Chief of Defence Staff’s Liaison Officer to the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he served as Head of Operations ‘A’ in the MOD. Promoted to Major General in March 2013, he served for 2 years as Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Operations), before taking over as GOC 3 (UK) Division in May 2015. He assumed his current post as Commander Field Army in December 2016.
He was awarded the OBE in 2004, the DSO in 2008, and the CBE in 2012. He speaks fluent French and Norwegian, scratchy Spanish and can offend in Arabic, Pashtun, Dari, Albanian and Serbo-Croat. Married to Fiona Bullen, a successful author, they have a son (Kit) at Edinburgh University. Lieutenant General Sanders enjoys cycling, ski mountaineering, hunting and fly fishing. He is fond of whisky and Spurs. He dislikes scotch eggs and can’t bear Arsenal.

Full spectrum operations acknowledge that conflict involves more than combat between armed opponents. Land forces must defeat enemies while simultaneously shaping the civil situation. This can be accomplished through stability operations in foreign theatres, and civil support operations in the domestic environment. Furthermore, operations are now increasingly network-centric, and land forces need superior information and communications capabilities to respond to new threats and to work efficiently and seamlessly with joint and allied forces.

· Warfighting at the high end is getting more difficult as a result of advances by near-peer competitors, while the low end is moving towards enduring commitment. What is the right fleet balance to address these demands?

· What lessons can we take from recent land force operations to apply and prepare for the threats of tomorrow?

· How can forces train, and what is required to ensure soldiers are agile, adaptable and able to operate unilaterally or with multinational and civilian partners?

· What are the future security challenges and dilemmas faced by Land Forces, and what role can armoured vehicles play in addressing these challenges?

· How important are strong land forces for deterrence – and how is the land power narrative best communicated to political leaders?